June 10, 2013

School is out and the proverbial question on every parents mind is 'what is my child going to do this summer?' For many moms and dads, the journey to summer fun begins months before school is actually out. They begin looking at camps early on because the good ones will fill up within minutes of open registration.

Being a first time mom, and because no one clued me in, I learned that school-age camp is expensive. What I paid for four to six weeks of preschool camp will only cover one week of school-age camp {What??? Who thought this up?}. For those of you who follow me regularly you know that my life is ruled by a limited budget, so $220 for one week of Lego camp just won't work for me. Time for plan B -- camp/summer fun at home for a fraction of the cost.

My son loves all things maps and travel. He informed me just a few days ago that when he's an adult and rich {yes, he actually said that...LOL!} he plans to travel the world. So I began thinking about ways to support his travel interest that would be fun and educational. What better way to do that than to "travel" the country!

Of course, you can't travel without luggage. Enter our homemade suitcase made from an old packing box.

Started with a regular packing box cut in half

Use a cup to create the rounded corners needed

Draw a semi-circle

Cut out using a box cutter or straight blade

Use glue to connect the sides to the bottom {same for the top}

The bottom is complete!

Top and bottom of the suitcase

To make the handle - cut slits in the box and stick a strip through

Handle shown from the inside of the suitcase

Tape the flaps down to the inside of the bottom

The hinge attached with glue to a small square of cardboard

Glue to the bottom then add screws to keep it attached

Working reinforced hinges

Added an American flag and wording

He was so excited he had to use it right away!

This journey is just beginning. Travel with us as we learn during our summer of fun with 'Operation 50 States'!

2 comments:

This is adorable!! Your pictures look great. I NEED TO BE inspired to create with my babies a liytoe better. Today we buily a blanket tent but before I could start campout story time, they crawled in and giggled so much I just went and did the laundry. Bad huh? Badddddd.

Thank you Denise! Sometimes it is more work to be creative with these little people. My child likes to create and make things but doesn't enjoy when my crafting takes away from him. And no, I don't think choosing laundry was a bad idea...they need sisterly bonding time and you gave them that - LOL!